Thread: How to prolong/stabilize LDs

Hi,

I'm a beginner at this, I've been practicing the "Looking at your hands before bed" for 2 weeks rather infrequently though, but more recently I've also started doing reality checks throughout my day in combination with telling myself I will lucid dream before I go to bed, and I've had 2 lucid dreams so far.

My first was about a minute long... I had never heard of stabilization techniques before so it just kind of blacked out into an FA and then blacked out into RL. For my second, I tried rubbing my hands together as soon as I became lucid for about a second. Then I tried doing some math "4 + 3 = 7" and after I did this I heard a loud thunderclap, it blacked out and I woke up. Argh! So frustrating! Also, I figure I may have gotten too excited trying to remember all the stabilization techniques I had learned and directing my attention away from the dream.

For next time I figure I'll try to rub my hands for longer and AVOID DOING MATH lol. Does that sound reasonable? How do you extend your dreams? Does it shorten if things are blurry, i.e. does things have to be crystal clear before it's stabilized?

I normally just look around and try to get involved in the surroundings, when I start paying attention to other random things, I start waking up. My average LD time is about 5 minutes though, I would recommend checking out some tutorials this one seems to work best when I actually apply it. There are more in the wiki and here.

Good luck. Sweet dreams.

First, realize that it is easier to get lucid when you are almost partially awake, so often the first few LDs are in that verge of sleep phase. The LDs that happen in deeper sleep will be more stable, but you may need practice to get lucid in deeper sleep.
You can recover through learning the DEILD skills. Or you can try to stabilize it, just as long as you realize some LDs (expecially at first) will collapse because you are sleeping to lightly.
To stabilize start repeating "this is a dream" out loud and look closely at a nearby object. take in some details from the nearby object and keep repeating "this is a dream," then look at an object that is further away. After that if you still feel it is unstable, try touching something. Stamping your foot into the ground is a good one.

Well i am by no means an expert LDer, I have found success yelling "Stability now". Trust me it sounds weird but i did it multiple times in a dream and it was the longest lasting LD to date.

Thanks for the replies!

I tried really hard last night but no success. It's as sivason said: what happened to me multiple times is I woke up toward the end of my sleep cycle immediately after becoming lucid... not the slightest chance to do anything. It only happened when I was already in a partially awake state. Too bad... Maybe I will continue practicing and trying to stabilize, or maybe I will invest in learning DEILD which looks interesting... not sure yet. That tutorial also looks interesting.

Also, unrelated... I got myself so pumped up about it the night before so that at first I woke up 3 hours after I fell asleep. I think just because I was so excited and autosuggested stuff to myself so much or whatever. Never before in my life lol... I was like "Why am I awake now, it's so friggin' early!"

Then to add insult, I could not fall asleep again for 3 hours! Probably because I was still excited and telling myself to become lucid. At one point, I got very relaxed and comfortable and managed to stay in 1 position for I think an hour or so. I'm thinking I may have gotten to a stage of sleep paralysis until I had to move because it was starting to get uncomfortable. Is this possible? I felt like there was an energy field throughout my body. Like my body was hooked in place and I would have to break some threads to move it. But I didn't experience any sort of dream you might associate with WILD.

Originally Posted by RaurosFalls

Then to add insult, I could not fall asleep again for 3 hours! Probably because I was still excited and telling myself to become lucid. At one point, I got very relaxed and comfortable and managed to stay in 1 position for I think an hour or so. I'm thinking I may have gotten to a stage of sleep paralysis until I had to move because it was starting to get uncomfortable. Is this possible? I felt like there was an energy field throughout my body. Like my body was hooked in place and I would have to break some threads to move it. But I didn't experience any sort of dream you might associate with WILD.

Many of us have decided the term SP confuse more than it helps. The problem is pretty simple. You are experiencing your body being partially asleep, and that causes the weird sensations. However, concious awareness can break SP very easily. It is intended to keep you from moving around in a dream, but will not prevent most WILDers from moving. If you feel energy or vibrations, often moving will disrupt it, but simply relax get comfortable again, and you should be able to get to that point again quickly. In that stage I would start actively visualizing, and trying to feel a dream body. Maybe picture yourself walking and try to imagine how it should feel.

Here is a link to the SP thread, http://www.dreamviews.com/f79/sleep-...lained-136993/

Here is a link that teach visualization and post #6 teaches how you use it to begin a WILD, http://www.dreamviews.com/f157/dream...aining-133302/

Wow so much information. I don't know even where to start now. Maybe I'll just go to sleep... Anyway, bookmarked

What works best for me, when I become aware in a dream, is to grab onto something nearby. It doesn't matter what it is, whether it be a wall, a book, or a dream character. It keeps me in the dream.

Doing math requires brain work not conducive to dreams (as you found out) . Stabilizing and lengthening lucid dreams are both the same for me. It is a matter of calmness. Staying calm and simply observing the dreamscape has lengthened my lucids. There are some things I also avoid (if possible). Speaking to a dream character is one of them. Speaking to a DC almost always ends the LD for me. I have concluded that the act of speech, like math, requires brain functions not helpful to a LD. The hardest thing to do in a lucid dream is to stay grounded. I almost always want to fly. Some of my flights were lengthy while other more adventurous aerial acrobatics have woken me up. But, when it comes to lucid dreaming... its all good.